Programs Blog

Lila Olson (B Watch) and Flora Kerner (A Watch)

Ship’s Log

Noon Position
14° 58.248’ S 147° 38.676’ W

Ship Heading and Speed
078° at 0 knots

Log
1956 nm

Weather / Wind / Sail Plan (from 1300 Watch Change)
Easterly winds, force beauf 2. Eastern seas, 1 ft. 1/8 cloud coverage (Cumulus). A boiling 32° C. Anchored.

Location
Approaching/Entering Rangiroa

Souls on Board

All blogs from S-307

Dearest Subscribers,
‘Tis us, Flora “Flobs” Kerner and Lila “Wheels” Olson. We are sorry to have left you waiting with a baited breath overnight, but we now present not one but TWO epic tales of our life here at sea on the beefiest of the Bobby C’s.

March 14
On the month anniversary of our flight to the great Southern Pacific, Flobs started her day at 0030 with a lovely dawn watch of plankton counting and graphing colors. A watch (the award-winning line chase champions), shared our favorite aisles in the supermarket during the wee hours of teatime.

Marge (Sophie M.), Flobs’ watchmate and B haus roomie from way back when, awoke Wheels at 0600, with nothing less than some simple arithmetic formulas to begin her day. B watch (watch of Wheels, best watch) had an eventful morning of a full science station deployment! Under the wise tutelage of Chief Mate Krista Anne Swedberg and Mate in Training Olivia Mosley Lord, Junior Watch Officer Wheels Olson helped get the Bobby C. hoven-to and science-ready. Thus commenced one of the world-renowned B-watch-science-deployment-workout-extravaganzas.

Dr. Crab Larvae Schell was, of course, present, as the b watch squad began pumping out reps with CTD meters flashing down the screen. No one could have guessed the pale white of their nauseas faces just a day before. At some point in the day, the skies grew dark and the dwellers of the Bobby C were greeted by a new cloud friend, the Waterspout (aka water tornado).

Sunrise during dawn watch.

Oh reader, if only you could have seen the excitement on the faces of Marge, Ben “Bin” Porter, Aaron “Mimi” Blust, and Flobs. The adults seemed to be more concerned on the potential hazards the spouts could bring. But reader, don’t you fret, we dodged that sucker better than anyone. The rest of the day was a blur of naps, eats and good company, as any day on the Bobby C. tends to be. Flobs had evening watch later that night, she watched the moonrise. It was sick.

Engine room was hot, heat lightning was copious, stars were pretty.

March 15
Now it was Wheels who awoke for the infamous dawn-watch. 0030 arrived, and up Wheels sprang, thanks to the calming and factual wakeup from Flobs (it went something like; “Lila, wake up. It is warm outside. Like it’s really warm. It’s hot”). After your typical 0200-0400 Island Mass Effect project work study sesh, and an abyssal level tea-time discussion about rebirth, the crew of B watch finally handed over Bobby’s reigns to C watch (day tank at 150, no watermakers on, 2nd Mate Megan Lynn Frey has the con).

As the sun rose. Mimi bravely took to the helm, expertly skirting us through the 600ft (sorry no meters) Tiputa Passage into the atoll of Rangiroa, a dolphin greeting us almost immediately. Just moments after the third anchor shot touched down, another excitement stirred the ship: T’was Jennifer!! Our dearest Jen “Smokey” B. had decided to grace us once again with her comforting presence.

Tiputa Passage to enter the lagoon of the Rangiroa atoll.

Celebrations ensued with everyone’s favorite call; The Swim Call (thank you Kevo). Other events of the day included: yummy bright pink smoothies, skipping Gene (the mini sailboat), learning how to cast the CTD carousel, and watching a Derby race dressed in Kentucky style as our favorite crew members battled away in an all-out lap around the Bobby C in their floatie of choice. Soup, cleaning, anchor watches, and some ukulele tunes ended our first night in Rangiroa. We are pumped for a snorkel-filled research/fun day tomorrow!!

PS: Flobs’ fish in the Chrysler tank died today. RIP Chewie.

PPS (the upbeat PS): Bonny, we saw your little island today where you and Kevo will stay. It looks so amazing. The water here is the clearest and bluest we have ever ever seen.

PPSS: Hi to Niki and Charlie and Gabriela and Tim. And Jenna’s mom, we miss you guys/hello Jenna’s mom.

Cordially yours,
Lila Olson (B Watch) and Flora Kerner (A Watch)